Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning in the Classroom - Lessons from Indian Industrial Training Institutes

In India, the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are a vital part the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system. Previous research reveals that in addition to some other problems, it is the strongly theory-based training that impedes the transition of VET graduates into the labour market, and leads to a lack of work-readiness in young graduates. Since there is still little empirical evidence about the actual forms of teaching and learning in Indian vocational schools, this paper will examine how the learning processes in ITIs in Delhi, Coimbatore and Mumbai take place. To identify the relationship between the theory and practice of training, teacher interviews were conducted, in order to specifically examine the teacher ' s beliefs and behaviours as well as classroom observations to supplement the interviews. The evidence gathered supports the thesis that ITI training is theory-driven and teacher-centred, that training is very often not practical and application-orientated, and most ITI teachers in the examined institutes have limited knowledge in the field of micro-didactics. Content knowledge and repetition of facts are more common than problem-based and learner-centred teaching.